The Evolution of the US Airline Industry
The Evolution of the US Airline Industry

Author: Eldad Ben-Yosef

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2005-10-24

Total Pages: 295

ISBN-13: 0387242422

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For over three decades the airline industry has continued to maintain a high profile in the public mind and in public policy interest. This high profile is probably not surprising. There does seem to be something inherently newsworthy about airplanes and the people and companies that fly them. The industry was one of the first major industries in the United States to undergo deregulation, in 1978. It thereby transitioned from a closely regulated sector (the former Civil Aeronautics Board tightly controlled everyt thing from prices to routes to entry) to one that is largely market oriented. The incumbent carriers transformed themselves from the point-to-point operators that the CAB had required to the hub-and-spokes structures that took better advantage of their network characteristics. Further, they transformed their pricing from the quite simple structures that the CAB had required to the highly differentiated/segmented pricing structures (“yield management”) that reached an apogee in the late 1990s. Some ca arriers, like American, Delta, and United, were better at this transition; others, like Pan American, TWA, and Eastern, were not. What the incumbent carriers did not do, however, was deal with their costly wage and work rules structures, which were an enduring legacy of their regulatory period. This legacy, when combined with the high-fare end of the yield-management pricing structure, has made them vulnerable to entry by new carriers with lower cost structures.

The Evolution of the Airline Industry
The Evolution of the Airline Industry

Author: Steven Morrison

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2010-12-01

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 9780815721208

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Since the enactment of the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, questions that had been at the heart of the ongoing debate about the industry for eighty years gained a new intensity: Is there enough competition among airlines to ensure that passengers do not pay excessive fares? Can an unregulated airline industry be profitable? Is air travel safe? While economic regulation provided a certain stability for both passengers and the industry, deregulation changed everything. A new fare structure emerged; travelers faced a variety of fares and travel restrictions; and the offerings changed frequently. In the last fifteen years, the airline industry's earnings have fluctuated wildly. New carriers entered the industry, but several declared bankruptcy, and Eastern, Pan Am, and Midway were liquidated. As financial pressures mounted, fears have arisen that air safety is being compromised by carriers who cut costs by skimping on maintenance and hiring inexperienced pilots. Deregulation itself became an issue with many critics calling for a return to some form of regulation. In this book, Steven A. Morrison and Clifford Winston assert that all too often public discussion of the issues of airline competition, profitability, and safety take place without a firm understanding of the facts. The policy recommendations that emerge frequently ignore the long-run evolution of the industry and its capacity to solve its own problems. This book provides a comprehensive profile of the industry as it has evolved, both before and since deregulation. The authors identify the problems the industry faces, assess their severity and their underlying causes, and indicate whether government policy can play an effective role in improving performance. They also develop a basis for understanding the industry's evolution and how the industry will eventually adapt to the unregulated economic environment. Morrison and Winston maintain that although the airline industry has not rea

The US Airline Deregulation and Its Effects on Industry Structure and Competition
The US Airline Deregulation and Its Effects on Industry Structure and Competition

Author: Filippos Servitopoulos

Publisher: Universal-Publishers

Published: 2003-08-05

Total Pages: 94

ISBN-13: 1581121881

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The purpose of this dissertation is to assess whether the consumers are receiving a greater range and more frequent airline services since the U.S. airline industry was deregulated. Are the consumers better off since deregulation? Are the airlines providing more and better services? The questions mentioned above are examined and answered in this dissertation and based on the literature available and on numerous reports and published papers, many conclusions are drawn. These conclusions can help the readers in both comprehending the complicated issue of airline deregulation and assessing whether consumers are better off since deregulation. Initially an analysis of the airline deregulation is carried out based on the literature available. Information is provided regarding when did it happen and why did it happen. Moreover a comparison of the pre and post-deregulation era is conducted. Information is also provided about the airline deregulation effects on the U.S. airline industry s structure and competition. Strategic alliances which constitute a consequence of the airline deregulation effects are also examined. After the description of both the effects of airline deregulation and strategic alliances is carried out, an analysis of them is initiated. The analysis is aiming at proving whether airline deregulation has increased the range and frequency of airline services. For this analysis, the information presented before is used and it is analysed via the use of certain management models. Through a thorough research and study on the above issues, It has become apparent to me that the opinions about the range and frequency of services offered to the customers before and after deregulation are contradictory. The conclusions that I have made are based on my own perception on those issues and are a result of an objective analysis of contradicting theories and opinions. The airline deregulation issue is very opportune in the U.S. because the airline industry is currently undergoing through a very crucial stage. Many are those who praise the airline deregulation decision, taken in the late 1970s but many are those who recollect the days of the pre-deregulation period. My own ideas are expressed through out this thesis in a way that they allow the reader to form his/her own opinion on the issue.

Economic Regulation and Its Reform
Economic Regulation and Its Reform

Author: Nancy L. Rose

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2014-08-29

Total Pages: 619

ISBN-13: 022613816X

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The past thirty years have witnessed a transformation of government economic intervention in broad segments of industry throughout the world. Many industries historically subject to economic price and entry controls have been largely deregulated, including natural gas, trucking, airlines, and commercial banking. However, recent concerns about market power in restructured electricity markets, airline industry instability amid chronic financial stress, and the challenges created by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which allowed commercial banks to participate in investment banking, have led to calls for renewed market intervention. Economic Regulation and Its Reform collects research by a group of distinguished scholars who explore these and other issues surrounding government economic intervention. Determining the consequences of such intervention requires a careful assessment of the costs and benefits of imperfect regulation. Moreover, government interventions may take a variety of forms, from relatively nonintrusive performance-based regulations to more aggressive antitrust and competition policies and barriers to entry. This volume introduces the key issues surrounding economic regulation, provides an assessment of the economic effects of regulatory reforms over the past three decades, and examines how these insights bear on some of today’s most significant concerns in regulatory policy.

European Union Competition Law in the Airline Industry
European Union Competition Law in the Airline Industry

Author: John Milligan

Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.

Published: 2017-04-15

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 9041166289

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Since the liberalisation of air transport in the EU in the late 1980s, with the application of competition law to agreements and practices within the EU, and between EU and non-EU airlines since 2004, competition has intensifi ed and the industry has evolved, with the emergence of low cost carriers, greater consolidation between full service carriers through mergers and alliances, and most recently, convergence of business models as airlines respond to competitive pressures. The enforcement of competition law has also increased within the EU – at EU and EU member state level and internationally. This practical and thoroughly researched book, minimising the need for cross-referencing, is the only current comprehensive study of European competition law from the perspective of the airline industry. Among the issues and topics covered are the following: - commercial agreements between airlines such as code-sharing, mergers and alliances and other joint ventures; - means of distribution such as computer reservation (or global distribution) systems and travel agents; - supply and distribution agreements; - abusive conduct by dominant companies including airports, airlines, or other companies; - cartels, including the Airfreight cartel case; - information exchange between competitors; - procedure, enforcement and private actions for damages; - state aid to airlines by Governments, through agreements between regional airports and low cost carriers, and aid to airports; and - subsidies by non-EU countries to airlines. The author also gives an overview of the liberalisation process, the European Common Aviation Area, agreements with non-EU countries, latest developments (including Brexit) and ongoing trends. As a practical guide to the application of competition law in relation to drafting commercial agreements, planning and structuring mergers and alliances, assessing existing agreements, or handling claims or disputes among airlines or airports, legal practitioners in the transport fi eld will fi nd this book to be of inestimable value, as will business persons at airlines and airports. For regulators, academics, and university libraries, this book will also prove itself indispensable.